MyNameIsLegion Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 (edited) The worst thing an MCU big budget move can be is.....average. This was below average. Is it the worst MCU film? It's hard not to put it in the bottom 3, and If I were to re-watch the bottom 3, I'd probably still think they were better. (Thor 2, IM 2, Hulk,) I re-watched the first FF movie with Chris Evans this week on Disney+ and I liked that movie better. However, Eternals is much better than the Josh Trank FF movie, which is the gold standard for Marvel character films made in the last decade that suck. That's hard to beat. I hope they don't spend a production slot for an Eternals 2. Don't need that. If a few show up in other films, that's fine. The lesson learned here is it's difficult to start a movie with a Team or Family (cross your fingers on FF) and have the audience become emotionally invested in the characters. Feige did it right with the Avengers build up from the solo movies. I came away from Eternals only slightly interested in Sersi, Kingo, and maybe Kit Harrington (but, geez, typecasting, another sword and questions of his lineage story and a reluctant hero) They killed off the 3 Eternals I liked the best that I thought were the more interesting acting performances. For sure all those people that spent real money on Kirby Eternals slabbed "keys" will have eternal regret in the long run. Edited January 21, 2022 by MyNameIsLegion kav, Finhead and skypinkblu 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theCapraAegagrus Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 On 1/20/2022 at 4:44 PM, Bosco685 said: When you engage with sound chambers that repeat what you want to hear over and over, you bet they are going to say that thing. It's called a self-fulfilling prophecy when you go to the same sources that enjoy what you enjoy, and then the response you get back is "I LIKE THIS TOO!" Like when you would follow MCU Cosmic (hint what he was nuts over) and then noting he really thinks the MCU is going to deliver more great things. What did you think he was going to proclaim? Funny thing is, all of the people saying that this movie is unwatchable are on Marvel's own social media. It's not an echo chamber where I am gathering the confirmation from. As I have mentioned before; Dude's delusional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theCapraAegagrus Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 On 1/21/2022 at 3:47 AM, MyNameIsLegion said: The worst things an MCU big budget move can be is.....average. This was below average. Is it the worst MCU film? It's hard not to put it in the bottom 3, and If I were to re-watch the bottom 3, Id probably still think they were better. (Thor 2, IM 2, Hulk,) I re-watched the first FF movie with Chris Evans this week on Disney+ and I liked that movie better. However, Eternals is much better than the Josh Trank FF movie, which is the gold standard for Marvel character films made in the last decade that suck. That's hard to beat. I hope they don't spend a production slot for an Eternals 2. Don't need that. If a few show up in other films, that's fine. The lesson learned here is it's difficult to start a movie with a Team or Family (cross your fingers on FF) and have the audience become emotionally invested in the characters. Feige did it right with the Avengers build up from the solo movies. I came away from Eternals only slightly interested in Sersi, Kingo, and maybe Kit Harrington (but, geez, typecasting, another sword and questions of his lineage story and a reluctant hero) They killed off the 3 Eternals I liked the best that I thought were the more interesting acting performances. For sure all those people that spent real money on Kirby Eternals slabbed "keys" will have eternal regret in the long run. I would rather watch The Incredible Hulk and Captain Marvel than The Eternals, which is how I deduce that it's definitely the worst MCU film. Definitely better than 2015's Fantastic Four, though. Eternals has a few minutes worth of entertainment, but I can't think of any redeeming scenes in that FF flick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamlet Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 On 1/21/2022 at 1:15 AM, Mecha_Fantastic said: Anyone else just read this bit and gasp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skypinkblu Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 On 1/21/2022 at 2:15 AM, Mecha_Fantastic said: Anyone else just read this bit and gasp? The ONLY time I ever remember getting in trouble in Elementary school, was when my teacher found me with a comic book inside the history text I was SUPPOSED to be reading...It was probably some Marvel that was being continued from the month before and I couldn't wait to find out if they survived;) Larryw7, Cat and Bosco685 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@therealsilvermane Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 On 1/20/2022 at 8:51 PM, onlyweaknesskryptonite said: Okay these are pretty funny. Credit to you if you created these. onlyweaknesskryptonite 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@therealsilvermane Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 On 1/20/2022 at 11:21 PM, kav said: So tell me which books you find good. Second request. Well, the original writer's bible is Aristotle's Poetics. I'm big on Edgar Allan Poe so his essay the Poetic Principle is therefore bigly for me. As for actual screenplay books I own, I do have Syd Field's Screenplay and Screenwriter's Workshop. The Screenwriter's Bible. Story by Robert McKee. Method Writing by Jack Grapes. A friend lent me his copy of Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder which I haven't read yet. My issue with a lot of the books similar to Syd Field's books is they give you the Hollywood formula for screenwriting, whereas my interest for a long time has been more independent and international cinema, which doesn't necessarily follow the Hollywood formula. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@therealsilvermane Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 On 1/20/2022 at 11:32 PM, Randall Dowling said: At the very foundation of filmmaking, is the most important aspect- story. You have to have a good story to tell. And there are lots of good stories and themes that can be applied. Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of filmmakers and screenwriters are not very good at this most fundamental component lately. There are many, many movies that are all flash, or spectacle, and no substance. To me, these are just bad movies. Because spectacle is no substitute for story. I don't care about wokeness, either way. I care about a good story with a moral reason. Something that communicates wisdom about life. It may sound like a tall order but it's been done many times before. So, it's not only possible, it's reasonably achievable. It just takes talent and an understanding of how to tell a story. Tell the right stories. Tell stories about compassion and decency. Tell stories about sacrifice and fighting for something bigger than oneself. Tell stories that inspire people to be better than they are and the audience will wake up by themselves and ask for more. That's a far better thing than preaching righteousness to an audience that came looking for a story. Story is tension. And the goal of the story is to resolve that tension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@therealsilvermane Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 On 1/20/2022 at 11:37 PM, kav said: exactly. It all boils down to script. all. I keep saying this. no amount of metaphors, diversity or jellyfish can take the place of that. Just doesnt sink in for some people. Saying a movie is about 'humanity' doesnt mean squat. Did I say that a movie should primarily be about metaphors? No I did not. Remember, you are the one who asked me expand upon the visual metaphors in Ang Lee's Hulk which you said were not in the movie and that I was just seeing things. As I posted above, all story is tension. It's how one tells that story that makes that story unique. Metaphors are just a way to help tell that story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@therealsilvermane Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 On 1/21/2022 at 6:55 AM, theCapraAegagrus said: Funny thing is, all of the people saying that this movie is unwatchable are on Marvel's own social media. It's not an echo chamber where I am gathering the confirmation from. As I have mentioned before; Dude's delusional. No, I look at places like Facebook group chats that aren't owned by Marvel. The film is still getting its share of people who hate the movie, but I'm seeing more comments saying the film is not as bad as they've been led to believe by the media. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 this was always a hard sell...so here is my solution the movie should have been someone in MCU, an Avenger or all of them, discovering the celestial embryo and worldwide publicity about The Avengers plan to stop it. This draws The Eternals out of hiding as they were unaware of Arishem's true plan. Bing bang boom. movie introduces eternals but gives MCU viewers their "in". Maybe expose one of the MCU cast as an Eternal in hiding even, they all step from the shadows and we get a bog surprise. anyway, I am liking it more than not. It just is too much, too grand in scale and too convoluted. When a movie set in present day starts with a scroll and "5000 years ago" it better get it dead on. I was instantly taken by how Kubrickian the beginning was, the sound and then the spaceship/monolith. That was pretty groovy I thought, Kirby had his 2001 love so we get a llittle Kubrick homage as well with this Kirby property. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theCapraAegagrus Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 Do you need a therapist...? Bosco685, D84, onlyweaknesskryptonite and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 we have a rule in my house...not hard and fast but in general. No talking about talking...you said and I said and you said. NO! no talking about talking. it is a waste of time and energy, move on. This would be a better place if this rule was extended to posting. Not hard and fast, just in general. No posting about posting, most of us don't care. back and forth back and forth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theCapraAegagrus Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 (edited) Back and forth is fine, but "dominating the discussion" has been frowned upon by moderation, and with good reason. This thread would only be 30 pages if people would accept what others have to say (within fair reason). Edited January 21, 2022 by theCapraAegagrus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua33 Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 On 1/20/2022 at 8:06 PM, Hamlet said: I think people are too focused on the “woke” aspect. This movie isn’t bad because it is woke. It is bad because it doesn’t have any interesting characters, themes, or action sequences ( I’m only talking about the 1st hour, because I haven’t made it thru the whole thing. Maybe the last hour is better? ). It is incredibly slow and bogged down in endless exposition. The highlight of the movie for me so far is the valet. That isn’t a good sign. Black Panther is woke, but it also has interesting themes about dealing with our fathers’ sins and what a wealthy country owes the world, a great villian, good action, humor that works, interesting characters, etc. It gets a little bogged down in the CGI-fest at the end that we’ve all seen a dozen times now, but overall I enjoyed it. I think it’s less a problem of being woke and more a problem of being out of ideas that we haven’t seen before. Black Widow and Shang-Chi are okay movies, but they don’t really have anything new or fresh in them. I think the well may be running dry. I don't think people are focusing too much on the "woke" aspect, I think Marvel is. Their entire film making style is orbiting Woke Planet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua33 Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 On 1/21/2022 at 5:46 AM, @therealsilvermane said: Story is tension. And the goal of the story is to resolve that tension. Mr. Keating told us to rip out that section of the textbook. Randall Dowling 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlyweaknesskryptonite Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 On 1/21/2022 at 7:26 AM, @therealsilvermane said: Okay these are pretty funny. Credit to you if you created these. I thought the same thing when I first saw these. Credit where credit is due. AOTB. Afraid of the Basement by Bobais B Borris. https://dangerousminds.net/comments/disney_presents_cannibal_holocaust_on_vhs_and_other_killer_fan_art_mashups Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kav Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 On 1/21/2022 at 5:46 AM, @therealsilvermane said: Story is tension. And the goal of the story is to resolve that tension. Story is character first, tension second. You can have all the tension you want but if no one cares about the characters its a fail. No one cares about the eternals. They are bland. theCapraAegagrus and Muno42 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theCapraAegagrus Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 Romance and/or camaraderie is story, yet not tension. So the "story = tension" line doesn't pass the smell test. Story is not 1-dimensional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@therealsilvermane Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 On 1/21/2022 at 2:09 PM, kav said: Story is character first, tension second. You can have all the tension you want but if no one cares about the characters its a fail. No one cares about the eternals. They are bland. Character is character. Two guys in a bar isn't a story. If one of the guys tells the other guy "I'm sleeping with your wife. What are you going to do about it?" Now it's a story. Heck, you don't even really need characters to tell a story. The creation of the universe from a swirling mass of chaos to a place where life can exist is a story. Tension --> Resolution. That's story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
